My son the chef!

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Our youngest son, Jeff (23, working on a PhD in biostatistics at John Hopkins), cooks. This is not unusual in our family since my husband is the cook in our house. I make desserts but you cannot live on dessert alone. He does the grocery shopping too. I am a very lucky woman!

 
Back to the story of the day. The biostat department at JH has an annual chili cook-off. Jeff is for sure the only Texan in that department and so felt honor-bound to win that chili cook-off with real Texas chili. He got his dad’s recipe, added 3 new ingredients, and came away with the prize – a sombrero! It is his to wear until next year. His father is very proud.

Cool Clipboards

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I always seem to have papers on my desk. Often they are in piles. It’s true that they are usually small, tidy piles – but they are still piles. At some point I have to deal with them so that I have room to work. 


I ran across this idea in Martha Stewart Living. She says to put those piles on clip boards that hang on the wall and get them off your desk! She gives decoupage instructions for covering them with pretty paper. Her site is packed with good ideas!

I admit that Marha’s are cuter than mine. I think I need more clipboards. But you can’t see the rest of the room – I’m not sure my wall can take much more. 

I’m happy to say, though, that my desk is already cleaner and I do like that!

Aunt Catherine’s Chair

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My mom and sister have been weeding out their furniture. I was up at mom’s 2 weeks ago and she sent me home with a chair that came to her from my Aunt Catherine. I think that’s Catherine, 2nd from the left. My grandmother, Nan (real name Mabel), is 2nd in from the right.


The chair had a very red mahogany stain and burgundy fabric on the seat. The finish was not in the best of shape. I should have taken a photo, but forgot.

Steve volunteered to strip the wood for me. After looking at it I decided that the chair would look a lot better painted than re-stained. 

Once I decided that white was the best choice for the house we decided that spray paint would work just fine. He hit it with a primer coat of Kilz, and then sprayed on 3 coats of gloss white. We sanded it a bit after each coat with steel wool for a smoother finish. The steel wool took some of the paint off at the edges but I like the subtle look of wear that that gives the chair. 

I chose fabric for the seat from my stash. Regular quilting cotton seemed too light weight, so I used a heavy, woven silk that I bought last March from the Talbot’s tie outlet near Monterey, CA. Like all quilters, I buy fabric and usually have no idea where it will end up. It looks good in our bedroom in from of the quilt, Everyday Best.

Henry Winkler at Austin College!

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Henry Winkler was the speaker at Austin College’s opening convocation Monday night. One of the perks of being married to the dean of the sciences is that Steve and I were invited to the dinner beforehand in Henry’s honor (or should I say Mr. Winkler? That seems so formal!)


We were all seated before Oscar Page (AC president) and his wife Anna Laura came in with Mr. Winkler. It was amazing – Henry came to each table and said a quick hello and shook hands with each of us! Nine table, four people per table – that’s 36 hello’s. I can speak for Steve and I and say that this was not a perfunctory hello, this was a really friendly hello! What a way to start! I do have a photo of Henry at our table but it’s not particularly flattering of any of us so I’m not going to post it :-).

The speech he gave at the convocation was truly inspiring – and funny too! Mr. Winkler is dyslexic and he talked to the audience, that was mostly made up of freshmen and seniors, about how important it is to value what you have to give. That every individual is gifted in one way or another and that we all add something to the world that no one else can. This is a message that we should all take to heart! If you ever get a chance, go hear him speak.

I should also add that he is an author with Lin Oliver, of a series of children’s books called Hank Zipzer: The Mostly True Confessions of the World’s Best Underachiever, published by the Grosset & Dunlap imprint of Penguin Putnam. They sound wonderful!

Cacti at NorthPark…

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I went shopping a week or so ago at NorthPark Center. It is an upscale mall in Dallas. It was built by Raymond Nasher who, with his wife Patsy, was a great collector of modern art, mostly sculpture. The Nasher Sculpture Center, also in Dallas, is an amazing place and a must-see if you find yourself in Dallas.


There are some sculptures from the Nasher collection at NorthPark. They add a lot to the space. But I especially like the seasonal decorations at the mall. This spring they planted beds with cacti and succulents. This is one of the bigger beds. The rows have a quilt-like quality.


I don’t know the names of these plants. Some of them look like they could have come from outer space, or from under the sea. They look even better in these neat, tidy rows. The pink pots under the pink-tinted plants are a nice touch.

Sewing with Elanor…

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I downloaded this pillow pattern from Amy Butler. Scroll way down the page to find this one. A friend made a couple of them. You know how little girls are… Elanor saw them and wanted to make one herself. I said “later”. She remembers these things so later turned into today!
 

I didn’t keep the pattern so we drew a similar one. Elanor and I picked out fabric. She especially wanted to use some big dots for the eyes. Notice that one eye is bigger than the other? That’s Elanor. I was skeptical but it looks way better than if she had made both eyes the same. The girl is good!
 
 
I got the mini Boden catalog in the mail recently. It has the cutest kids clothes you’ve ever seen! We bought some for Elanor, but couldn’t buy them all. However, Lorna was inspired to add some fused applique to some of Elanor’s plainer t-shirts. 
 
Lorna had not fused before but, as many of you know, it’s an easily acquirable skill. We both spent some time sewing around the edges of the applique with a straight stitch to ensure that everything stays stuck. I didn’t get a picture of Elanor modeling, but I will soon. The shirts turned out very well!
 
While we girls were working, Jack was doing what babies do. He napped a bit, he ate, he drooled like a fountain. We were in my studio and when he wasn’t playing with the cat toys or trying to get into the electronics, he played with spools of thread. I had to keep an eye on him to be sure the thread stayed locked on the spools. Didn’t want him to eat a bunch of un-spooled thread.
 
Eventually he settled on this one big spool of blue thread. By the time I got it back the thread was more than damp. I won’t be sewing with this. This is now Jack’s spool.